Whispers Forum

An application was filed by the Appellant under the RTI Act seeking information on two points regarding documents concerning disposal of his appeal against the order passed by the Disciplinary Authority. The PIO denied the information under section 8(1)(e) of the RTI Act.
The Respondents submitted that the information sought was regarding the notings concerning disposal of the above appeal by the Appellate Committee and the comments etc. made on the appeal by the above committee. The Respondents stated that the above information cannot be provided as these are internal documents of the bank. The CIC ruled that there was no ground to invoke Section 8(1)(e) of the RTI Act to deny the information in this case. Since the disciplinary proceedings are over, there is no ground to deny the information sought by the Appellant. The CIC directed the PIO to provide the information, free of charge, within twenty days of the receipt of the order, under intimation to the Commission.
Comments
On the question of disclosure of the note-sheet of the vigilance files, there have been a series of orders of the CIC which are inconsistent with each other.
Citation:: Shri Shiv Kumar Gupta v. UCO Bank in File No. CIC/SH/A/2016/001227, Date of decision: 19th July 2017
Dr. Anuradha Verma (dranuradhaverma@yahoo.co.in) is the co-author of the books: RIGHT TO INFORMATION – LAW AND PRACTICE and PIO’s guide to RTI. Her other articles can be read at the website of RTI Foundation of India - Right to Information Act 2005- RTI Foundation of India

It is not possible for Sharad Yadav to topple Nitish Kumar for the simple reason that Nitish in a more astute politician. The fact that he joined hands with BJP instantly shows Yadav has his brain in the back and not in the forehead.
Chipti
What about PM’s directives on Joint Secretary empanelment ?
"What about PM’s directives on Joint Secretary empanelment of all Group A organised services? DOPT interprets eligibility for JS empanelment which benefits only IAS since DOPT is cadre controlling authority of IAS, by IAS and for IAS only. As per JS Empanelment ‘Guidelines’ of DOPT O.M. no. 12/3/2008-EO(SM-III) (Part-II) dated 24.07.2014, eligibility criteria is (i) Officers who have rendered 17 years of service in Group-A, AND (ii) Drawing pay in the scale of Rs. 37400-67000 + Grade Pay Rs. 10,000 in their respective parent cadre/service. The guideline does not discriminate between type of pay drawn. The only criterion is officer should be drawing GP of Rs. 10,000 in PB4 in his cadre. But, DOPT illegally interprets for NON-IAS that non-functional upgradation (NFU) to GP Rs. 10,000 does not fulfil criteria no. (ii) for JS empanelment. This discrimination violates Article-16 of Constitution. IAS is also not ‘actually’ promoted to GP Rs. 10,000, based on occurrence of any vacancy in this grade in his State cadre. IAS also gets non-functional upgradation to GP Rs. 10,000 in his state cadre due to time-bound upgradations (not vacancy bound), if any of his batchmate in any other State cadre gets higher grade pay. IAS drawing NFU GP Rs. 10,000 is treated as eligible for empanelment as Joint Secretary, while non-IAS are not eligible. 7CPC in Para-7.3.31(b) says that theoretically, an IAS officer need not ‘actually’ be promoted to the Senior Administrative Grade (SAG) to be considered for JS empanelment. It needs only one officer from a batch in any of the States to be promoted to the higher grade (of GP Rs. 10,000), to render the WHOLE batch posted in different States eligible to be upgraded to the higher grade (of GP Rs. 10,000). This condition is achieved in the minimum possible time (16-17 years) for being eligible as Joint Secretary in Govt of India. On the other hand, the officers of Central Services have to await for actual promotion to the SAG which is ‘vacancy-based’ and which could take anywhere between 18 to 25 years. In Para 7.3.24, 7CPC has recommended that officers drawing NFU GP of Rs. 10,000 would also be eligible to apply for deputation posts in the higher grade through empanelment in the Central Staffing Scheme as well as to posts outside the Central Staffing Scheme. In Para 7.3.41, Chairman and Dr. Rathin Roy member have recommended following eligibility criteria for JS empanelment: 1. All officers of All India Services and Central Group `A’ Services participating in the Central Staffing Scheme who have put in 17 years of service will be eligible to apply. 2. The existing proviso for the AIS, viz., the appointment of at least one officer of the batch year of the Service from any State cadre in the (pre-revised) scale of ₹37400-67000 + GP ₹10,000 should be dispensed with. Hope DOPT listens and our PM acts more tough to get non-IAS officers also empanelled and appointed as JS. DOPT dared to defy PM’s order of June 2015 that all non-IAS officers upto 1995 batch should be empanelled as JS by 31st December 2015.
Bharat
Joint Secretary empanelment
The eligibility conditions should be relaxed 1. Any officer in GP 1000 should be eligible 2. Count deputation to any ex cadre post in place of mandatory requirement of CSS deputation at director level
Rajesh
What about PM’s directives on Joint Secretary empanelment?
It is high time that these directives are followed in letter and spirit and that too without delay.
Parth

Madras High Court has ordered singing of Vande Mataram to be made compulsory for two days in a week in all schools ,colleges ,Universities and other educational institutions of Tamil Nadu. They have even given their preferred days as Monday and Friday. Desire to inculcate patriotism among students is laudable but one wonders whether it is the job of the Court to lay down such rules. It seems our Judges have forgotten their real work to show activism in areas which are not within their purview.
Aarti Khosla
Protect officers from blackmailing
Axe on IAS officers -While it’s a welcome step to improve efficiency, step shall be taken to protect officers from blackmailing by powerful & political persons.
S K Rana

The case continues to have political significance as one of the accused was the late Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi, who had close family links with the Sonia Gandhi . It was Quattrochhi who introduced Rajiv Gandhi to the Bofors. The corruption scandal was seen as a major factor in Congress's defeat in 1989 Lok Sabha elections. The current re-surfacing of the scam might see all culprits behind the bar.
The scam remained buried for over three decades under successive governments headed by V P Singh, Chandrashekhar, Deve Gowda, I K Gujral and Atal Behari Vaajpeyi and finally Manmohan Singh ( with Sonia Gandhi at the helm as de facto PM ) under UPA-II.
Even the Judiciary seemed helpless. A bona fide court-monitored investigation was not ordered by the Apex court to get the facts verified on priority so as to bring all those responsible to justice. Delay led to suppression of truth that shook people’s faith in democracy.
With a mass of unimpeachable documentary evidence, this was an Open-and-shut case despite Rajiv Gandhi's persistent denials. In an interview with the BBC, Rajiv claimed that “to the best of my knowledge, there have been no payoffs to Indians.” He pre-empted the sensitive investigation by expressing his “view” that “commissions” to neither the “middlemen” nor “Indians” were paid .
Recall some key events and names of bureaucrats, politicians, extra- Constitutional authorities, which were in circulation in those obscure and morally questionable days.
Bofors’ chief jurist had briefed an official team comprising S. K. Bhatnagar, the then Defence Secretary, P. K. Kartha, the then Law Secretary, Gopi Krishan Arora, the then Special Secretary to Rajiv Gandhi, and N. N. Vohra, then Addl Secy in MOD , later, Secy ( Defence Production ) and Ronen Sen, the then Joint Secy in PMO. The team was assisted by T. K. Bannerjee, the then Joint Secretary (Ordnance) in MOD.
Strangely, according to General K. Sundarji’s revelations published in India Today (September 15,1989), Mr. Morberg was due to come to New Delhi at the head of a Bofors delegation in July 1987 to give the information the Government of India “wanted,” before Rajiv Gandhi who initially himself scuttled the idea (leading to resignation of Arun Singh, the then MOS, Defence).
Involvement of Hindujas brothers and Win Chadha was open secret.
How were charges and proceedings by the trial court quashed by the Delhi high court (M K Chawla) and bail granted to the accused when the Law did not provide for it?Hinduja brothers were given clean chit. Worse, appeal against quashing of chargesheet against the Bofors , was not allowed by the UPA –II government to be challenged in the Supreme court?.
The Principal investigator ( of Bofors scam) Sweden's investigative agency , Sten Lindstrom , in an interview to TV channel , has revealed it all by accusing the late Rajiv Gandhi as the alleged mastermind behind the Bofors cover-up in collusion with Olof Palme , the then Swedish PM.
The Congress has obfuscated discussions in Parliament. Sonia Gandhi terms it as a black day for democracy. Rahul Gandhi predicted that the GOI will not be able to prove anything even after investigating it for another 30 years. No further reaction by them except throwing papers on Speaker (LS)
The country wants answers on the following questions :
(a) How did Rajiv Gandhi enter into a secret understanding with Olof Palme, Swedish PM, who was later killed ? Who, in GoI, pressured the Bofors to give a clean chit to the Gandhis ?
(b)How did the then ruling dispensation manipulate the escape of Quattrochhi by deliberately delaying the exit of CBI officers to London during Cong-led UPA-II?
(c) What was the murky role of steel-frame of bureaucracy of MOF and the Cabinet Sectt in making good the escape of Quattrochhi?
(d) Who ordered de-freezing the Bofors payoffs in London, get the same transferred to Italy ? By the time the CBI reached London and then Argentina, Quattrochhi had crossed over to Italy ?CBI could not arrest him .
(e) Why was the CBI not given permission by DOP&T ( in-charge of CBI) in 2005 to file the SLP in the Supreme court for quashing the judgement of Delhi High court ? Suresh Pachauri was MOS (Personnel) who took orders direct from the Congress supremo, which used to be later legitimised by the de jure PM Manmohan Singh. Interrogation of Principal Secy, Secy and Joint Secy to PM will give a mine of sensational information?It may be recalled that V P Singh,the then Defence Minister ,resigned under protest.
(f) What are details of Bank Accounts held by late Rajiv Gandhi ( inherited from his mother,late Indira Gandhi) which are now being operated by the Congress supremo?
(g) What is the guarantee that relevant records kept in boxes, have not been tampered with? These boxes were brought from Sweden to India by a Joint Secy of MHA or MOF, without associating the CBI.
I am raising the doubt as, certain Directors of the caged parrot had dubious credentials. A P Singh and Ranjit Singh,are in question.They might have helped the UPA-II in fiddling with documents.
(h) The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), while casting doubts on the Government's version of selection of Bofors guns, did little to unravel the mystery of the kick-backs.
What next ?
Against this background, it is high time that the boxes are opened in presence of CJI, CBI , forensic experts and the Media. All documents must be kept in public domain for public scrutiny. A court-monitored investigation by the SIT within a pre-determined time frame could be ordered by the Supreme court.
A K Saxena (A retd civil servant)
Delhi University should innovate
The Delhi University is reported to have denied admission to a girl who had 5 languages as subjects of study, as not more than two languages can be counted for best of 4 subjects criterion for admission. No dispute about the rules but it is about the outlandish attitude to languages. Instead of encouraging advanced studies in languages and grooming new generation computer linguists, the university is still stuck up with subjects of stressed employment opportunities. In modern times when communication growth has opened up newer opportunities of employment e.g. in broadcasting, tevevision, social media, print media, online publishing, mass open online courses etc the requirements of trained personnel has increased tremendously. National and international corporations, as also legal services, need multi-lingual professionals. In view of this fact, the DelhiUniversity must revise its criterion to admit students with best of the four even in different languages. There are 122 Major Modern Indian Languages and thousands of dialects. The All India Radio broadcasts in about 179 languages. There was the Word in the beginning! Respect the Word. Can the Delhi University authorities please think out of the box and be innovative before others set better example?
M L Gupta

The North Delhi Municipal Corporation follows the South Delhi Municipal Corporation to replace street lights by LED ones. They have signed an agreement with TPDDL and Havells. This developing scandal under the Narendra Modi, India Against Corruption noise makers and other state governments needs urgent remedial action. There are more than 4 lakh street lights in the area administered by these two corporations. The public is exploited in numbers in crores. The turnover is huge and so are the profits, kickbacks, black money and tax evasion- may be even manipulation of foreign exchange, money laundering and duty drawback also. It is so because the whole market stands captured by Chinese products of suspicious quality standards violating the law applicable to household electrical goods. Traders don’t keep products of popular brands but on asking give a smirk. Nobody keeps Phillips or Havells products because the Chinese goods give traders huge profit margins. Demanding only non-Chinese goods one gets Havells LED tubelights @650/390 apiece. A look at the packaging reveals that the printed MRP on it is Rs. 1190/745 apiece followed by “imported by Havells”. The name of the country of import is not printed. So Havells do not manufacture it in India! It too is likely to be a CHINESE product without disclosing the country name! Hindi Chini Lutaayee khusaayee. If these are the retail prices, the wholesale price will be even less than Rs 40, the same as that of a conventional branded tube light of Phillips. Is this how the Indian consumers should be allowed to be exploited? Is this how government agencies should loot the tax revenue in the treasury? These Chinese tube lights are not even “tube lights” in the conventional sense but a strip sold @25 rupee a metre on Diwali, wrapped in a tube! Is this the Make In India achievement? Is this pricing the usual business (or ease of doing business) in medical devices, medicines, heavy industrial machinery, defence equipment et al? Who looks after consumer interests? Should these products be not banned? Can’t the citizens’ watchdogs like the Competition Commission or the NCDRC take any action suo moto ? Or printing such prices is another trick for maintaining account books to show loss in business ? Only governments at the centre and the states can answer.
M L Gupta

On the outset I congratulate Sanjay Kothari on his elevation and new role as Secretary to the President of India. He is an honest and upright officer who is born with inherent qualities of manoeuvring his team to embark upon his mission with ease. The constructive work and positive contribution that Kothari has made in shaping the path of development of this country is applauded in government and political circles across party lines. He is an asset and his vast experience shall help the President office in matters of crucial decision making in the larger interest of society. I wish him all the best .
O P Sharma, Ex Government Officer
Friendship culture on the wane
Friendship culture among'st the batch-mates is on the wane because of the Television and Mobile Culture.
Anurag Shrivastava
Brilliant choice
Raveesh Kumar is a brilliant choice. We served in Indian Embassy Jakarta in mid 90s.
Kishore Dudani

One heavy rain and the roads are flooded leading to massive traffic snarls. This is in Delhi the capital of my country. Noida, where I live is worse. This is what has happened after this morning heavy rainfall. The service lanes of the sector we live got flooded with dirty water from a nallah nearby water entering the ground floor flats. Leaving the house and getting into the carto leave for one's daily routine to Delhi required wading through dirty water and then one realised the foolhardiness of doing so. A short distance from the house on a flyover we got into a massive traffic jam. The flyover loop, a distance of maybe 200 metres, which puts you on the road taking you on the DND flyover for Delhi was covered in one hour. It took another hour to reach our place in Delhi which normally we cover in 30 minutes. In all this frustration one feels why no one is bothering about these civic problems which result in so much inconvenience to the public and also causes national loss by way of wastage of time and fuel. Yogi Government is busy in doing postmortem of the work done by previous Government rather doing real Governance .
Aarti Khosla
Vijay Gokhle to move to MEA
Excellent step to the post of Foreign Secretary
Kishore Dudani

It is because the culture of 'me first' has taken over all other things. Actually there is a unhealthy competition so much so that no body thinks twice before pulling the leg of his batch mate if he comes in the way.
China Threatens War On India?
China is putting undue pressure on India by creating border disputes only because it’s so called economic cooperation in the form of CPEC looks like devastated by India not joining it. Why should India join a project of military hegemony of China in the region? The Chinese communists have converted into plutocrats, aristocrats and elites controlling not only the entire wealth of China but also the means of production, supply & distribution, incomes and livelihood. China has failed to improve the economic conditions of the ordinary Chinese, who are forced to work in sweat shops to produce export goods at wages below 1 US $ a day, but promises economic prosperity to countries signing up CPEC or OBOR. China is no global welfare state. It seeks to realize its economic goals through OBOR/CPEC. The grand projects are to silence the domestic clamour for democracy, human rights, fundamental rights, decent wages and non-military opportunities of livelihood. Currently they are suppressed. The day the real picture of the economic, educational, health and social conditions of the peasants and the labourers become known, the real picture of poverty and deprivation will expose the hollow claims of the revolution. Like the appeal made openly to Pakistanis to dethrone Modi, China has been approached secretly to check the rise of Modi and ensure his fall before 2019. The secret agents in contact with China have been promised return to power in 2019 in exchange for vast tracts of Indian territory and clearance to CPEC and other Chinese projects. For this China can strike any time. It has no employment for its 25,00,000 army which it has to reduce to just 10,00,000. In 1962 it had similar problem when 70000 of its troops returned from North Korea, whom it thrust into the war with India. It feels threatened with Modi acquiring the stature of a world leader. It had attacked India in 1962 only because it felt similarly threatened by Jawarlal Nehru. India had rejected then, and rejects again today the hegemony or misguided notions of suzerainty of China in this region. China knows the cost of war it wages now, but our traitors have already assured it of full recompense if returned to power in 2019. The country should be alert before it actually happens. Stop buying Chinese goods forthwith.
M L Gupta

Transfer of D Roopa IPS, DIG ( Prison) Bengaluru has jolted the conscience of every right- indian. Her fault : Exposing 5-star facilities for Sasikala in Bengaluru prison. These include 5- BHK suit for visitors, Puja, TV, bedroom etc and an exclusive kitchen. No waiting in co-prisoners’ Q for collecting breakfast and food. She has alleged payment of 2 crores rupees bribe – one crore to junior jail officials and the rest to DG (Prison). Politicos left out knowing fully that nothing moves without their blessings.
Racism in jail tantamounts to violation of Right to Equality of co-prisoners who will be roped in as witnesses during inquiry. Interesting. DG (Prison ) due to retire on July 31,2017 quietly sent on leave. Why was he not suspended pending submission of interim report before retirement? Tracking the money trail will require conducting IT raids. Bribe, unfortunately, is not accepted by cheques. Hawala transactions, shell companies are conduits.Proofs are there for everyone to see- 5BHK prison suit ,kitchen.
Accusations are serious enough to warrant judicial intervention. Supreme court taking suo motu cognizance, if , no PIL is filed, could order a time- bound inquiry by a serving high court judge of a State other than TN and Karnatak.
While the law makers are busy discussing corruption ignoring their own contribution to it, corruption grows exponentially. VIP racism in prisons, is rampant across the country. Lalu Yadav,Tejaswi Pratap, Misa Bharti are convicts-in-making. High profile convicts enjoy all privileges by regularly greasing the palms of jail officials.
Issue of Nexus in corruption has been discussed ad infinitum by committees, commissions, intellectuals , but, without success due to absence of political Will.
Consider Vohra committee report based on inputs from IB, RAW,IT,ED etc in the aftermath of Mumbai serial blast in March 1993. Though submitted in July 1993, the same has been under wraps ever since .
Supreme Court in 1997, recommended the appointment of a high level committee to ensure in-depth investigation into recommendations of Vohra Committee and secure prosecution of those involved. Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Venkaiah Naidu stated in 2015 that the Vohra committee report ( along with Annexure )will be tabled in Parliament by MHA. But, nothing happened.
Annexure carries more explosive details than body of the report.
It contains names of criminals , politicos, bureaucrats, media persons who have indulged in unethical , anti-national activities.
The report as per media report, has been missing in MHA. A big charade, a massive conspiracy to defend the indefensible.Sensitive details must be intact with primary sources like IB, RAW, IT, ED etc.
In the meanwhile, bureaucrats, politicians privy to the report managed to corner important positions under successive political dispensations as reward for keeping their mouths shut. Sheer blackmailing. Vohra has been the biggest beneficiary of the inaction on his report by successive political dispensations . Politicians fear a “ Katl-e-Aam” , if names of criminals are made public. All hypocrites.
Taking into account the totality of circumstaces, the controversy cannot be allowed to rest due to missing documents. This will accentuate the gravity of the offence. Missing file(s) must be retrieved at all cost and exemplary punishment taken against the culprits. Involvement of criminal syndicates and their contacts occupying sensitive positions,cannot be ruled out. Parliamentarians,cutting across party lines, are shy of discussing the issue inside Parliament. India wants to know the truth.Vohra committee Report must be kept in public domain.There is a growing public demand for publishing it. Serious security implications.
Supreme court is expected to step in and order a court-monitored inquiry by CBI into Vohra committee report.
A K Saxena (A retd civil servant)
Make amends
Agree with Parth. No government servant should be allowed to be sickly. DoPT has unwittingly allowed MHA to steal a march over it. They could make amends.
ARC Kumar
Date with RTI
Confusion about the correspondence can be an easy excuse for the CPIO to escape from penalty.
MF